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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Little Round Top - Gettysburg (7/2/1863) - Nov 6th, 2003
military.com ^ | James R. Brann

Posted on 11/06/2003 12:00:42 AM PST by SAMWolf



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
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The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

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The Defense of Little Round Top


Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has long been lauded as the hero of Gettysburg's Little Round Top. But does Chamberlain deserve all the credit, or did he have some unheralded help?


Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a boulder-strewn hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain dashed headlong into history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in perhaps the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. The regiment's sudden, desperate bayonet charge blunted the Confederate assault on Little Round Top and has been credited with saving Major General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac, winning the Battle of Gettysburg and setting the South on a long, irreversible path to defeat.


20th Maine on the Taneytown Road


For many years, historians and writers have given the lion's share of the credit for the 20th's dramatic action on Little Round Top to Chamberlain. Numerous books and even the popular movie Gettysburg have helped fuel adulation for the Union officer. But did Chamberlain really deserve the credit he received? Or, to put it another way, did he deserve all the credit? Answering that question adequately requires taking another look at the Battle of Gettysburg and the hell-raising fighting that occurred among the scattered stones of Little Round Top.

On June 3, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee began the Army of Northern Virginia's second invasion of the North. Lee's main objective was to move across the Potomac River and try to separate the Union forces from Washington. When the Army of the Potomac's commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, belatedly became aware of the Confederates' movement, he began to force-march his army north, trying to keep Lee to the west and screen Washington from the Rebel troops. On June 28, as the bulk of the Federal troops enjoyed a brief respite near Frederick, Md., Meade replaced Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac.


Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain


Meade faced a daunting task. By June 30 Lee's forces, including those of corps commanders Lt. Gens. James "Pete" Longstreet and Ambrose P. Hill, were marching on the Chambersburg Road in southern Pennsylvania, while Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell was leading his corps westward from York. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, directing Lee's cavalry, had not returned to the main Southern column from his screening mission around the Union forces. In fact, Stuart would not return until July 2, a crucial error in judgment.

Lacking adequate intelligence from his scouting forces, Lee directed his army to gather at Gettysburg. The general did not want to fight at Gettysburg, but alert Union horsemen had reached the area -- a fact that would put a wrinkle in Lee's plans. When Confederate Brig. Gen. James J. Pettigrew approached the town leading a 2,584-man brigade that was part of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division, he became aware of the Union cavalry force positioned there. Pettigrew withdrew his troops and then reported back to Heth. The next day, July 1, Heth headed toward Gettysburg with four brigades of infantry to drive off the reported Union troopers and secure the town.


Little Round Top from the northwest.
Brady photograph.


To Heth's surprise, waiting for him was Union Brig. Gen. John Buford, who had dismounted and deployed his cavalry on McPherson's Ridge, west of Gettysburg. Buford's forces fired first, temporarily halting Heth's force and starting the Battle of Gettysburg. Both sides sent dispatches to inform their superiors of the confrontation. Meade reinforced his Union position with the I Corps, which was now led by Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday since Maj. Gen. John Reynolds had been mortally wounded earlier that day. Additional Union reinforcements came from Maj. Gens. Henry W. Slocum's XII Corps and Daniel Sickles' III Corps. Throughout the morning, Confederate pressure continued to build against the Union line.


Signals From Little Round Top


Although spread thinly, the Union troopers held their ground with repeating carbines. As the fighting intensified, both sides added more infantry divisions to the battle. The Confederates managed to exploit weaknesses in the Federals' deployment, and their attacks caused heavy losses to the Union troops, who were forced to retreat. Confederate General Ewell's failure to carry out his orders and attack Cemetery Hill on the afternoon of July 1 wasted a golden opportunity for a quick, decisive victory. The Union had lost 4,000 men by that time -- and the town of Gettysburg itself -- but Meade quickly moved reinforcing divisions onto the high ground south of Gettysburg. The two armies spent a restless night.



The Union defensive line on aptly named Cemetery Ridge resembled an inverted fishhook, extending from Culp's Hill on the north, down Cemetery Ridge and southward toward Big and Little Round Tops. Although the 650-foot-high Little Round Top was overshadowed by its larger neighbor, its position was more important because much of the hill was cleared of trees and it could better accommodate troops. Strategically, Little Round Top held the key to the developing battle. If the Southern troops could take and hold the hill, they could theoretically roll up the entire Union line.



On the morning of July 2, Little Round Top proper held perhaps just a handful of Federal soldiers. Pennsylvania native Brig. Gen. John W. Geary's division was aligned just north of the hill and was the largest Union force in the immediate area. Geary was ordered to rejoin the rest of his XII Corps at Culp's Hill after elements of Sickles' III Corps took his place. In the confusion of shifting troops, however, Geary pulled his men out too soon, before Sickles' men had moved to replace them. Little Round Top was left uncovered. Later, when Sickles' infantry did arrive, the controversial general moved his men, without orders, westward toward the Emmitsburg Road. Once again Little Round Top went wanting for protectors in blue.


Gouverneur Kemble. Warren
During the battle of Gettysburg, General Warren is credited with the discovery of the Confederate troop movements attempting to attack the area known as "Little Round Top". His subsequent action is reported to have saved the entire left flank of the Union Army.


Robert E. Lee, with his eerie sense of a battlefield, was hastily assembling a force to attack the Union left, but it would take him the greater part of the day to get his men ready to strike. Meanwhile, Meade also sensed something significant about the two adjacent hills to his left. That afternoon he sent his chief of engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to assess the situation. To his utter chagrin, Warren found Little Round Top completely undefended. He hastily sent messengers to Meade and Sickles, requesting immediate assistance. Sickles, by that time hotly engaged with el-ements of Longstreet's corps, had none to spare. But Colonel Strong Vincent, who commanded the 3rd Brigade of Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin's 1st Division of the V Corps, received word from a harried courier about the threat to Little Round Top and led his men to the hill at the double-quick. Vincent's brigade included the 44th New York, 16th Michigan, 83rd Pennsylvania and the 358-man 20th Maine under Joshua L. Chamberlain.


The 20th Maine & the 15th Alabama
At Little Round Top, Gettysburg, Pa


The 34-year-old Chamberlain was one of the most interesting figures in the Civil War. A highly cultured, somewhat sedentary professor of modern languages at Maine's exclusive Bowdoin College, he had sat out the first year of the war on Bowdoin's stately campus. But in July 1862, sensing perhaps that the war was going to last a good deal longer than he had first believed, Chamberlain offered his services to the Union cause. "I have always been interested in military matters," he informed Maine Governor Israel Washburn, "and what I do not know in that line, I know how to learn." He was given command of the newly formed 20th Maine, a unit comprised of extra men left over from other new regiments. It was not, Chamberlain noted, one of the state's favorite fighting units -- "No county claimed it; no city gave it a flag; and there was no send-off at the station."


Union breastworks. Interior view of breastworks on Little Round Top, Gettysburg


The 20th Maine had been organized under President Abraham Lincoln's second call for troops on July 2, 1862. The regiment initially fielded a total complement of 1,621 men, but by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg the stress of campaigning had reduced the regiment's ranks to some 266 soldiers, and the 20th was considered a weak link in Vincent's brigade. Fortune, however, was to smile on Chamberlain's regiment in the form of unexpected reinforcements.

On May 23, 1863, 120 three-year enlistees from the 2nd Maine Infantry were marched under guard into the regimental area of the 20th Maine. The 2nd Maine men were in a state of mutiny and refused to fight, angry because the bulk of the regiment -- men with only two-year enlistments -- had been discharged and sent home, and the regiment had been disbanded. The mutineers claimed they had only enlisted to fight under the 2nd Maine flag, and if their flag went home, so should they. By law, however, the men still owed the Army another year of service.



Chamberlain had orders to shoot the mutineers if they refused duty. Fortunately for the men of the 2nd Maine, Chamberlain was born and grew up in Brewer, the twin city to Bangor across the Penobscot River where the 2nd Maine regiment was recruited. The mutineers were not just soldiers but also Chamberlain's childhood neighbors. Instead of shooting them, Chamberlain wisely distributed the 2nd Maine veterans evenly to fill out the 20th Maine's ranks and integrate experienced soldiers among the untested 20th Maine. He sympathized with the mutineers and wrote to Maine Governor Abner Coburn, asking that he write to the men personally about the mix-up in three-year versus two-year contracts they had signed. On Little Round Top the 120 experienced combat veterans from the 2nd Maine brought the 20th's ranks up to 386 infantrymen and helped hold Chamberlain's wobbling line together.

As he arrived on Little Round Top, Colonel Vincent chose a line of defense that started on the west slope of the hill. When the first regiments reached the rocky outcrops in that area, Vincent put them into line. The 16th Michigan took up a position on the right flank, and the 44th New York and 83rd Pennsylvania held the center. Later in life, Chamberlain wrote that his regiment was the first in line, but it actually took up its position last, curving its line back around to the east and forming the Union Army's extreme left flank.


"Colonel Strong Vincent"


The last thing Vincent told Chamberlain was: "This is the left of the Union line. You are to hold this ground at all costs!" Chamberlain ordered the regiment to go on line by file. He deployed Company B, recruited from Piscataquis County and commanded by level-headed Captain Walter G. Morrill of Williamsburg, forward to the regiment's left front flank as skirmishers. Company B, with its 44 men, was subsequently cut off by a flanking attack by the enemy, leaving the 20th with only 314 armed men on the main regimental line.



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: 15thalabama; 20thmaine; bowdoincollege; brunswick; civilwar; colwilliamoates; freeperfoxhole; gettysburg; joshuachamberlain; joshualchamberlain; littleroundtop; maine; michaeldobbs; veterans; warbetweenstates
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To: w_over_w
LOL. Yep. It will be worth it, trust me.
81 posted on 11/06/2003 10:17:36 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: stainlessbanner
I pryed information from my guide and eventually he agreed with the South.

You probably weren't going to leave until he did, right? LOL.

I love to go riding and riding horseback would be a great way to see the battlefields.

82 posted on 11/06/2003 10:21:50 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SAMWolf
Command sure has changed.

Yep,,it sure don't happen that way anymore. I guess it's a lot different when a General can set back MILES away from the fighting and say, "Go get em' boys!",,,instead of a General on or at least near the line saying, "Follow me boys!!"

83 posted on 11/06/2003 10:25:25 AM PST by SCDogPapa (In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie)
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To: snippy_about_it
I kept him in the trunk until he admitted it : )

In all honesty, he was unbiased until I pressed the issue which was more about "causes" than battlefield tactics. This was really an excellent way to see the park, I could ask him questions, visit specific sites, etc. I learned an awful lot from this gentleman and recommend this tour for everyone (see the G'burg visitor's center).

84 posted on 11/06/2003 10:28:54 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
I did the NPS car tour thru the park which was really good. I pryed information from my guide and eventually he agreed with the South

LOL! Why do I know you were very convincing?

85 posted on 11/06/2003 10:31:08 AM PST by SAMWolf (A foot is a device for finding furniture in the dark.)
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To: SCDogPapa
"Follow me boys" is for Lts. and Capts. nowadays.
86 posted on 11/06/2003 10:32:00 AM PST by SAMWolf (A foot is a device for finding furniture in the dark.)
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To: SAMWolf; carton253
There's no hope for me, just ask Snippy.

Correct. No hope. Not because you can't, but because you won't slow down long enough.

And I mean that most affectionately, my multi-tasking, wheels spinning, too much on your plate, ever pleasing friend, speedy five.

87 posted on 11/06/2003 10:32:47 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SAMWolf
If Stuart had arrived early... Gettysburg would not have been the ground Lee fought on.

If Ewell had pressed hard... at the very least the Confederate Army would have been established on the high ground. I think the Union Army would have withdrawn and fought on different ground. (Meade had set up a line at Plum(?) Creek)

If Lee had not prevent Longstreet to manuever... then the Yankees would have been flanked.

I don't know if strength would have helped Pickett's charge. Fredericksburg...

If Meade had swept across the field behind Pickett's retreat...War over. If Meade would have attacked when Lee could not have crossed the Potomac. War over.

Here are two for you -- What if Jackson was at Gettysburg? And what if Hancock hadn't been at Gettysburg?

88 posted on 11/06/2003 10:57:10 AM PST by carton253 (To win the War on Terror, raise at once the black flag!)
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To: stainlessbanner; SAMWolf; carton253; snippy_about_it
This has nothing to do with the thread today, but I just got it and posted it because today is the 6th of November.

FIRST CONFEDERATE ELECTIONS WERE HELD ON NOVEMBER SIXTH OF 1861

Once the Confederate States of America had been formed, and they had made their choice for a leader; they wanted to seal this de- cision with a confirmation by the southern population. Jefferson Davis had been chosen by the Provisional Confederate Congress in early 1861. His name is now placed before the entire nation.

On the 6th of November, in 1861, the South holds their first na- tional election. The result of which proves that Jefferson Davis is a popular and respected leader as when he was first chosen by his peers in Montgomery. He is elected to a six year term as the President of the Confederate States of America.

89 posted on 11/06/2003 11:30:52 AM PST by SCDogPapa (In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie)
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To: carton253
If they hadn't gone looking for shoes.....
90 posted on 11/06/2003 11:35:23 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
That is a big issue. They just had to have those shoes...
91 posted on 11/06/2003 11:37:00 AM PST by carton253 (To win the War on Terror, raise at once the black flag!)
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To: carton253; stainlessbanner
Yep,,they needed them. Marchin' along barefoot could not have been fun.
92 posted on 11/06/2003 11:40:45 AM PST by SCDogPapa (In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie)
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To: SCDogPapa
What do you mean it has nothing to do with the thread. It's a heck of a lot closer than some of the six degrees of separation SAM and I use. :)

Thank you for the information.
93 posted on 11/06/2003 11:41:20 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SCDogPapa
IIRC Jeff Davis did not campaign, nor seek the position. He did his duty as a true statesman. I believe he was more of a moderate choice in leui of the fire-eaters Yancy, Rhett, et al.
94 posted on 11/06/2003 11:42:27 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: snippy_about_it
My pleasure. ;)
95 posted on 11/06/2003 11:42:57 AM PST by SCDogPapa (In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie)
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To: stainlessbanner
Agreed!
96 posted on 11/06/2003 11:44:31 AM PST by SCDogPapa (In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie)
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To: SCDogPapa; carton253
Barefeeted couldn't have been fun - thousands of miles, hard ground, cold snow. What I wouldn't have done to be a cobbler back then and take care of those boys....
97 posted on 11/06/2003 11:44:35 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
What a world those soldiers must have lived in. Shoes were dear and lives were cheap.

You can't blame Heth for going for the shoes. He didn't expect Buford to put up such a fight.

98 posted on 11/06/2003 11:49:23 AM PST by carton253 (To win the War on Terror, raise at once the black flag!)
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To: stainlessbanner; SCDogPapa
Two years ago I read Jefferson Davis, American: A Biography by Cooper. I thought it was very insightful into his life and times and what the real issues were.
99 posted on 11/06/2003 11:53:54 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SCDogPapa
When you read about the seige of Petersburg... the fact that the Confederates stayed in those trenches, barefoot, without winter clothing, and without food... you just have to admire them. Flat out admire them.

And the only reason Lee stopped fighting was because after Grant captured the trains that would have fed his army, he knew that the army just couldn't go on. Yet, even then, they rank and file did not want to stop.

Their gallant spirit was always on display. Even the shattered remains of Pickett's division would have regrouped and charged again if Lee had asked them.

What manner of men were these! I'm proud to claim them as my ancestors.

In fact, their gallant and heroic spirit is the reason that I love to read about the war.

100 posted on 11/06/2003 11:55:04 AM PST by carton253 (To win the War on Terror, raise at once the black flag!)
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